


Overdue Returns

by Papook



Series: Jocasta Jones and the Librarian Clones [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, LIIL Squad, Light Angst, Star Wars AU - Soft Wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:43:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27175393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Papook/pseuds/Papook
Summary: "There are three things we cry for in life: things that are lost, things that are found, and things that are magnificent." --Douglas CouplandKix finds all three in one clone-shaped package.
Series: Jocasta Jones and the Librarian Clones [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951591
Comments: 22
Kudos: 229
Collections: Open Source Soft Wars





	Overdue Returns

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [(Fact) Finders, (Knowledge) Keepers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27149912) by [Papook](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Papook/pseuds/Papook). 



> Once again, all the thanks to [Primarybufferpanel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenLune/pseuds/Primarybufferpanel) for the marvelous editing job. 
> 
> This is dedicated to Art and Ace, since they were compromised by the last fic. Please take this in lieu of my kneecaps.

Kix flicked fitfully through The Manual, checking to see if there were any new or pertinent updates. The one about leveraging Jedi traditions was interesting, but only seemed to apply to Jedi with manners, which ruled out all of Torrent’s. 

He was restless. 

The Captain had sent Torrent's newly minted ARCs out on a mission. A mission _away_ from Torrent. Kix was apprehensive, given the uproar the Captain (and Jesse) had caused at ARC graduation when he refused to let his men be assigned away from his command. It didn’t bode well that there was someone with enough leverage to pry the Captain’s ARCs out of his stubborn grip.

It also stirred up old ghosts. 

The last time Kix and someone he claimed as _vode_ had been separated by a transfer, it had been permanent. Seven-Oh would have fit in well with Torrent and their non-standard, say-it-with-thermal-detonators approach to life, Kix thought bitterly. But his little brother never got the chance.

*****

_"It's fine," Seven-Oh said, trying for a smile._

_“It's not,” One-Six said, low and furious. "Nothing about this is fine."_

_The smile slid off Seven-Oh's face. "Yeah. But there's nothing you can do about it this time."_

_And that was the rub, wasn't it? They were powerless to do anything. There was_ **_nothing_ ** _they could do to protect their little brother anymore. One-Six was reporting to medic training tomorrow. Keeli was leaving for the ARC ranges. Their other squadmates had left yesterday. Seven-Oh hadn’t been tapped for any sort of specialization._

_Seven-Oh was going to be left alone at the mercy of a trainer who hated him._

_It didn’t matter how smart he was, how many things he knew, how his strategies might be unconventional but always_ **_worked_** _—_

_The trainers hated him. He was too curious, too full of questions. Too likely to see through their osik, One-Six thought bitterly. Seven-Oh was too far out of spec in all the wrong ways for the trainers that wanted meat clankers in place of soldiers._

_Before, the squad had been able to cover for him. Stroke a few egos, tell the trainers they would take care of it, that they would make sure Seven-Oh was where he was supposed to be. Keep an illicit stash of stickyplast for all the times Seven-Oh got hurt exploring or trying some almost-reasonable-but-mostly-insane theory out. He just wanted to_ **_know_ ** _things, and if the trainers had given him free reign they would have had the most well informed scout or intelligence operative on the entire karking_ **_planet_** _. But they were too stuck on their own importance, their own way of doing things, and so instead they had this: a terrified cadet, hunched around a pillow, trying so hard to be brave._

_One-Six curled around his little brother, with Keeli crammed in on the other side, and held him one last time._

*****

The comm chime broke him out of his memories. "Medbay," he snapped, automatically moving to prep for an emergency.

"Medbay, this is Curator from LIIL Squad, we have a couple of ARCs who need some attention and a lecture about _watching where you step, for Force’s sake,"_ an unfamiliar voice drawled. "Decontamination showers are probably a good idea too, unless they get mauled by the cleaning droids on the way there." There was a familiar squawk of outrage in the background. A knot in Kix’s chest unraveled and he breathed a little more freely. "No, Jesse, I don't _care_ what sort of deal you have with them, none of them will show any mercy if you trail slime through their ship. Next time we need more people to help explore an old Jedi temple I’m asking Madame Nu to request someone with _common sense._ " The voice was muffled, pulled away from the comm to heckle. Clarity returned when he spoke again. "Nothing serious, just standard post-op check in and making sure they don't have a bad reaction to the goop."

“Send them over,” Kix sighed, changing his preparations from ‘emergency’ to ‘shenanigans as usual, ARC edition’. 

The door hissed open a few minutes later and Kix turned, ready to ream out his idiots. Jesse stumbled through the door, snarling and covered in purple slime, followed by a cheerful trooper in spotless light blue patterned armor. 

Kix’s knees gave out.

" _Kix!"_ Jesse lunged for him, slime and all, but the other trooper had better traction and got to him first. Kix found himself hauled to his feet and steadied by a ghost.

_"Sev'no?"_ The name punched out of him, breathless and stunned.

Eyes widened and a brilliant grin—so much brighter than it ever had been on Kamino—broke over a dearly missed face. "Ix!"

"Sev," he choked, unable to process what he was seeing. "Sev they sent you to decom."

The grin curled wry. "Well, they tried. Madame objected." Sev’no’s smile softened, grew sweet. "Look at you," he said wonderingly. "CMO."

"Look at _me?!_ Sev I thought you were _dead!"_ Kix was crying, and if he sounded a little shrill he thought he could be forgiven. His baby brother was _alive_ and _right here_ and smiling at him, tall and proud and laughing, settled in his own skin in a way he never had been before. Kix didn’t believe in miracles but he was damn well about to start.

Another trooper in light blue armor with a heavy spatter of slime hooked his chin over Sev'no's shoulder. "Butt, who's this?" he asked. Sev's smile grew fixed. 

"Cur I will remove your arm and beat you with it," Sev threatened through clenched teeth.

"As CMO I can't condone that," Kix said thickly, swiping at his streaming eyes. "But as your _ori'vod_ I will absolutely help."

Jesse oozed closer, hiding concern under curiosity. "Didn't know you had a _vod'ika_ , Kix." 

"Didn't know he was still alive." Sev was _alive._ Kix still couldn’t believe it.

"Didn't know you were alive either." Sev shrugged one shoulder, coincidentally dislodging his parasite. The parasite made a sound of offense.

"There's a database for that sort of thing," Kix pointed out. It was for company rosters and casualty lists. As CMO he had access, but rarely looked at it since the Captain had claimed the chore of updating those lists.

"Ix," Sev said seriously, moving his hands to Kix’s shoulders, "As an information retrieval specialist, I cannot emphasize this enough: the GAR database is more bug-ridden than a gundark with mange. It needs to be set on fire and then spaced directly into the nearest star. Do you know who is currently listed as the CO for Torrent?" His smirk was pure wickedness. "CT-5597."

Jesse's shriek nearly drowned out Kix's laugh.

*****

**Chat: Lucky’s Duckies**

_Curator:_ Are you lot headed back to Bespin yet?

_Curator:_ Also, I just discovered that one of Buttons’ cadet squad didn’t know he was still alive

_Curator:_ Any of you still think I’m dead?

_Chek:_ no but sometimes I wish you were

_Vode:_ sometimes I can still hear his voice….

_Lucky:_ we’ve known you were alive since General Ti came and told us a week after she dropped you off you tube scraping

_Hopscotch:_ why didn’t he know?

_Curator:_ see if I get you lot any comm codes next shore leave

_Curator:_ Apparently General Ti couldn’t find his squad before they shipped out

_Curator:_ All but Buttons got tagged for specialist training and then the records got karked up

_Curator:_ I hate the service record database so much

_Vode:_ WE KNOW

_Chek:_ WE KNOW

_Hopscotch:_ WE KNOW

_Lucky:_ WE KNOW

*****

**GAR Intranet Mail**

_From:_ Atin (LIIL)

_To:_ Ping (Quake)

_Cc:_ Wolf (Nova), Puma (Nova), Falcon (Nova)

_Subject:_ Weekly update

Still got all my limbs, no worries, the only casualty on this mission was some troopers’ dignity, although for once it wasn’t Buttons’. I know, I’m shocked too.

Have you heard anything from our Marine contingent? It’s been months…

*****

**GAR Intranet Mail**

_From:_ Shepherd (LIIL)

_To:_ Rush (Ghost), Brake (Ghost), Drifter (Ghost), Drive (Wave)

_Subject:_ Re: re: re: re: re: re: re: childcare question, please help I’m begging

I had to babysit SEVEN fully grown morons today, it is too much, I’m going back to the Archives and hiding in the stacks and never coming out again…

*****

**Chat: Eye Spye**

_Dital:_ fun day

_Dital:_ [holopic: Eight troopers and a Jedi are standing next to a thicket of purple trees with bulbous roots. Several of the roots look popped and deflated. Buttons is laughing and pointing at the rest of his squad and three disgruntled Torrent ARC troopers covered in purple slime. Curator and Atin are liberally slime-speckled too, though not as badly off as the ARCs. Shepherd is shaking slime off his arm and looks one hundred percent done. Madame Nu is standing off to the side, slime-free and hiding a smile]

_Lookout:_ XD

_Suture:_ ooops

_Mirage:_ HA

_Cris:_ kot to them, vod

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> The Manual comes from [Programmed Misadventures](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23858638), and the ARC graduation uproar mentioned is in [Possessive](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23610991) , both by the legendary [Project0506](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/pseuds/Project0506).
> 
> LIIL Squad's former cadet squads are made up of OC's courteously donated by the following enablers:  
> [RogueLadyVader](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaylaYuy/pseuds/RogueLadyVader) (Lookout and Suture)  
> [Gobayern16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gobayern16/works) (Mirage)  
> Marie (Lucky)  
> [Ace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Everything_or_Anything/pseuds/Everything_or_Anything) (Chek and Vode)  
> [Aero](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonicFairyspell13/pseuds/SonicFairyspell13) (Cris, Brake, and Drifter)  
> [Oriki Miitad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sneaking_UnicornWitch/pseuds/Oriki-MiitadBee) (Rush)  
> [Art](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artimusdin/pseuds/artimusdin) (Puma, Falcon, and Wolf)  
> \-----
> 
> Mando'a translations:
> 
> vod, vode- brother, brothers  
> ori'vod- older brother  
> vod'ika- younger brother  
> kot- strength


End file.
